EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

How are we doing?

Since 2005, the City of Pittsburgh along with many partners began collecting valuable data on Pittsburgh’s urban forest.

Tree Pittsburgh has completed several urban tree canopy assessments to better understand the changes in the urban forest. The initial assessment was completed in 2011 using 2010 LiDAR imagery of Allegheny County. Another tree canopy assessment was completed in 2015 and the tree canopy was compared between the two data sets Tree Pittsburgh found considerable tree canopy loss throughout Allegheny County This loss in the canopy is due to numerous factors including increasing storm damage, community development, pests, and diseases.

The following is a look back on the state of Lawrenceville’s urban forest Evaluating how the tree canopy has changed since the implementation of the ReLeaf program will help direct future efforts of ReLeaf Lawrenceville. In 2015, the City of Pittsburgh had a tree canopy of 42% Tree canopy in Upper Lawrenceville was 14%, Lower Lawrenceville was 12%, and Central Lawrenceville was 30% All three neighborhoods are well under the city average and efforts from ReLeaf Lawrenceville are working to grow and protect the canopy coverage through tree plantings and maintenance efforts. The following maps outline the canopy change across the Lawrenceville neighborhoods from 2010 to 2015 These maps tell the story of each neighborhood's canopy, and demonstrate the need for continued ReLeaf efforts as the neighborhoods continue to experience loss The loss shown on the maps is due to storm damage and development.